Neil Critchley praised Everton forward Ellis Simms after the youngster scored twice for Blackpool in their League One play-off semi-final tie against Oxford United.
Simms joined former Liverpool under-23 manager Critchley at Bloomfield Road on-loan in January and scored eight goals to fire the Seasiders into the play-offs.
And Simms continued his impressive form on Tuesday night to help Blackpool take a three-goal lead back to Bloomfield Road for the decisive second-leg on Friday night.
Pool took a two-goal first-half lead thanks to quickfire goals from Ollie Turton and Simms inside the opening half-an-hour at the Kassam Stadium.
Simms then added a third 16 minutes from time, and speaking afterwards, Critchley was full of praise for the 20-year-old, who he believes played like a man.
He said: “The first goal - Turts, bless him - that’s why we put him up there. He has a knack of getting in there and he shows it in training, so that’s why we put him up there. He tapped it in like a centre-forward, didn’t he?
“To score soon after through Ellis, who was a real handful tonight, he was terrific and played like a man, was great.
“But you know the third goal is big in any game. We thought if we defended well they’d give us space and we did have some chances on the counter-attack.
“I thought Jerry with Ellis was a real fantastic goal on the break.”
The former Reds U23 boss then added: “Obviously I’d have taken this result before the game.
“I thought Oxford started well, being the home team with the supporters behind them and the momentum they’ve got.
“But we had some good moments ourselves in the first few minutes of the game which we didn’t capitalise on.
“Goals change games and fortunately they went for us. They were good goals, mind, to score three goals and keep a clean sheet is very pleasing.
“You know what I’m going to say though, it’s only half-time and it’s only half a job done.
“Oxford have enough in their squad and you’ve seen that with the ability they’ve got. I think they’re the third highest goalscorers in the divisions and they boast that record for a reason and we’ve managed to restrict them to very little. But they are still capable of scoring goals.”
